Gripping device for bottles

ABSTRACT

A device for gripping bottles in recesses defined by the circumference of a bottle dial plate of a bottle closing or opening machine comprising a plurality of arcuated gripping means with each of the arcuated gripping means being mounted near a recess in such a way that the gripping means extends around the recess from a place at some distance beyond the circumference of the recess at the inner edge of the dial plate to a place beyond the dial plate. The inner end of each gripping means is mounted in a manner preventing rotation but is releasably mounted to a vertical shaft rotatably supported in the dial plate. The lower end of the shaft is provided with a swing lever mounted thereto in a manner preventing rotation and the lever extends towards the inner side of the dial plate. A vertical shaft is secured to the end of the lever extending to the inner side of the dial plate and a cam roller is rotatably mounted to the vertical shaft. The cam roller follows a fixed cam disc mounted coaxially to a central shaft so that the arcuated gripping means are guided in such a manner that an arriving bottle may pass freely into the recess with the arcuate gripping means being swung into the position by means of the action of the cam and cam follower so that the bottle in the recess is gripped by the free end of the gripping means.

United States Patent van Zijp 11 3,710,928 [451 Jan. 16, 1973 [54]GRIPPING DEVICE FOR BOTTLES [75] Inventor: Tonny van Zijp, Leiden,Netherlands [73] Assignee: N.V. Leidsche Apparatenfabriek,

Leiden, Netherlands [22] Filed: Oct. 29, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 85,177

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 30, 1969 Netherlands....69l6365 [52] US. Cl ..198/210, 198/25 [51] Int. Cl ..B65g 29/00 [58]Field of Search ..l98/25, 22 B, 210

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,967,465 l/l961 Berenson..l98/2l0 2,528,860 11/1950 Clark ....l98/210 2,112,621 3/1938 Henszey198/210 3,434,594 3/1969 Husome ..l98/2l0 Primary Examiner-Richard E.Aegerter Attorney-Fleit, Gipple & Jacobson 57 ABSTRACT A device forgripping bottles in recesses defined by the circumference of a bottledial plate of a bottle closing or opening machine comprising a pluralityof arcuated gripping means with each of the arcuated grippingmeans beingmounted near a recess in such a way that the gripping means extendsaround the recess from a place at some distance beyond the circum- 1ference of the recess at the inner edge of the dial plate to a placebeyond the dial plate. The inner end of each gripping means is mountedin a manner preventing rotation but is releasably mounted to a verticalshaft rotatably supported in the dial plate. The lower end of the shaftis provided with a swing lever mounted thereto in a manner preventingrotation and the lever extends towards the inner side of the dial plate.A vertical shaft is secured to the end of the lever extending 1 to theinner side of the dial plate and a cam roller is rotatably mounted tothe vertical shaft. The cam roller follows a fixed cam disc mountedcoaxially to a central shaft so that the arcuated gripping means areguided in such a manner that an arriving bottle may pass freely into therecess with the arcuate gripping means being swung into the position bymeans of the action of the cam and cam follower so that the bottle inthe recess is gripped by the free end of the gripping means.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAN l 6 I975 SHEET 2 BF 3 FIG.2

FIG.3

PATENTEDJAH 16 ms 3,710,928

sum 3 or 3 I FIG.4

The invention relates to a gripping device for bottles, and morespecifically to a device for gripping bottles in recesses provided inthe circumference of a bottle dial plate of a bottle closing or openingmachine.

Automatic bottle closing or opening machines comprise a rotating bottletable guiding bottles in a continuous circular motion under screw clampsfor turning screw caps to the filled bottles'or from empty bottles.During the turning motion, rotation of the bottles should be prevented.Several gripping devices have been provided to prevent such rotation.The gripping means in those devices are generally closed around thebottles by the pressure of a spring so that a sufficient grip isobtained to prevent rotation of the bottles during turning the cap to orfrom the bottles.

Generally, the structure of the gripping devices previously used israther complicated, besides the fact that gripping devices in bottleclosing machines are different from the gripping devices in bottleopening machines. In addition, the gripping means used are usually onlysuitable for bottles of one and the same profile, and those grippingmeans should be replaced by other adapted gripping means when bottles ofa different profile are used.

The present invention provides a gripping device which may be applied tobottle closing machines or bottle opening machines, and is suitable forgripping bottles of different diameters and shape.

The device comprises a plurality of arcuated gripping means, each ofthem being mounted near a recess or between a set of related recessesabove each other in such a way that the gripping means extends aroundthe said recess or recesses from a place at some distance beyond thecircumference of the recess or recesses at the inner edge of the saiddial plate to a place beyond the dial plate. The inner end of eachgripping means is mounted in a manner preventing rotation, but ismounted releasably to a vertical shaft rotatably supported in the saiddial plate. The lower side of the shaft is provided with a swing levermounted thereto in a manner preventing rotation with the lever extendingto the inner side of the dial plate. A vertical shaft is secured to theend of the lever and a cam roller is rotatably mounted to the verticalshaft. The cam roller follows a fixed cam disc mounted coaxially withthe central shaft of the dial plate, so that the arcuated gripping meansare mounted and guided in such a way that an arriving bottle may passfreely into a recess or a set of related recesses above each other inthe said dial plate, and thereafter, the arcuated gripping means may beswung into the position in which the bottle in the recess is gripped bythe free end of the said gripping means.

In the invention, the arcuated gripping means are positively guided by afixed cam disc mounted coaxially with the central shaft of thedialplate, through a swing lever and the shaft connected therewith, towhich the gripping means is mounted, so that the lever always moves inthe same manner and'pressure is not influenced by the differences insizes of the bottles. Thus, the system may be used for substantially allbottle profiles. By their arcuated shape, the gripping means can bemounted so that they extend around the bottle from the end mountedto therotating shaft to the end beyond the dial plate in a directioncorresponding to I that of the torsion moment exerted on the bottleduring the running motion of the cap to or from the bottle. The arcuatedgripping means may be reversed so'that they may be applied in bottleclosing machines, in which the torsion moment exerted to the bottle isin a clockwise direction. In bottle opening machines the torsion momentis in a counter-clockwise direction. Therefore, in a preferredembodiment of the invention, a device is provided, in which the arcuatedgripping means are mountable in a 180 reversed position so that thedevice is usable in bottle closing machines as well as in bottle openingmachines.

The torsion moments exerted to the bottles by turning the caps to orfrom the bottles, exert a further force to the gripping means in such away that the grip on the bottles is increased. This effect may beincreased by providing the inner wall at the free end of the grippingmeans with a block of an elastic material having a relatively highfriction coefficient. The contact place of the block and the bottle maybe selected with respect to the shaft of the gripping arm so that thefriction force of the block, which is preferably constructed of rubber,on the bottle increases the grip by the turning motion of the screwclamp for closing or opening the bottle.

The device according to the invention provides a relatively simplestructure for a bottle grip mechanism which may be applied in bottleclosing machines as well as in bottle opening machinesfor grippingbottles of different sizes and/or different profiles.

An additional embodiment of the invention is provided by a device, inwhich the gripping means is provided between two dial plates, the higherdialplate being provided with recesses corresponding to those of thelower dial plate, but having smaller sizes for centering the bottles tobe capsulated, while each gripping means extends beyond the dial platesin such a way that each bottle may be held between the free end of thesaid gripping means and the inner edges of the correspondingdial'plates.

In this embodiment, an advantage is attained in that centeringof thebottles almost always occurs at the neck of the bottles even though thediameters of the bottles, in fact, may differ to a relatively largeextent. Since the gripping means is placed between the dial plates, itcan act on the broader part of the bottles, so that a relatively smallforce is necessary to exert a sufficient moment to avoid rotation of thebottles during the closing or opening motion with respect to the forcenecessary when the gripping means would act on the neck of the bottle.When the bottles are wet, which occurs frequently in practice, theaction of the gripping means on the broader part of the bottles hasadvantages over the action on the necks of the bottles in that slip ismore easily avoided before the necessary moment of the screw cap clampis exerted on the bottle.

The invention is discussed in further detail by the aid of the attacheddrawings in which, as illustration only, an embodiment of a bottle gripmechanism according to the invention is shown.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a rotating bottle table for abottle closing machine, in which the mechanism ac- FIG. 2 is a sectionthrough the device of FIG. 1 along the line II II.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a partial section through a rotating bottletable used in a bottle opening machine.

FIG. 4 is a section through a part of the gripping means and a bottleheld thereby, along the line IV IV in FIG. 2.

The rotating bottle table shown in the drawings comprises a centralrotating shaft 1, having mounting means 2 fixed to the lower end atregular distances along its circumference by means of lock screws 3. Themounting means 2 serves for the securing of a rotating disc 4 and a disc5. The rotating disc 4 is secured to the lower end of the mounting means2 by means of bolts 6. The disc 5 is secured to the upper edge of themounting means 2 by means of a bolt 7. Thus rotating disc 4 and the disc5 are mounted to the central shaft 1 in a manner that rotation of thediscs with respect to the shaft is avoided. The rotating bottle tablefurther comprises a lower bottle dial plate 8, the circumference ofwhich is provided with moonlike recesses 9 at regular distances. Thedial plate 8 is mounted at some distance above the rotating disc 4 andis fixed near its inner circumference to mounting means 10, which is inturn mounted to the rotating disc 4. A second dial plate I 1 is mountedrelatively high above the disc 5. This dial plate 11 is provided withthe same number of moonlike recesses 12 as the recesses 9 of dial plate8 at regular distances, with the recesses 12 being of smaller diameterthan the recesses 9 of the dial plate 8. The dial plate 11 is secured tothe disc 5 by a long bolt 13, and between the lower side of the dialplate 11 and the upper side of the disc 5, a distance tube is providedin order to' keep the dial plate 11 at a spaced distance from the disc5. I

The bottles 14 to be guided by the rotating table as shown in FIG. 2rest with their neck part in the recesses 12 of the upper dial plate 11and with their lower part in the recesses 9 of the lower dial plate 8,with the bottoms resting on the rotating disc 4. During rotation of theshaft 1, the bottles 14 are taken along with the rotating disc 4 and thedial plates 8 and 11. The bottles thus taken along, are guided underscrew clamps for turning caps to or from bottles, and placed above therotating bottle table. The bottles during the turning motion of the capsshould not be allowed to rotate. For this purpose, gripping mechanismsare provided in the rotating table, and a gripping mechanism is added toeach set of corresponding recesses 9 and 12. The mechanism comprises anarcuated griparm 15 extending around the circumference of a bottle 14 bya recess defined therein from a point at some distance beyond thecircumference of the recess at the inner side of the dial plate tobeyond the dial plate. Each grip arm 15, is mounted to a vertical-shaft16 by the inner ends so that rotation with respect to the shaft isavoided. The upper end of the shaft 16 is supported in a bearing 17mounted in an opening in the disc 5. The lower end is supported in abearing 18 in the rotating disc so that the shaft 16 extends below therotating disc 4. The extending end of the shaft 16 is provided with oneend of a swing lever 19 fixed to the shaft 16 so that rotation withrespect to the shaft is avoided. The other inwardly extending end isprovided with a roller 21 freely rotatable around a vertical shaft 20.The roller 21 rests on the periphery of a cam disc 22 coaxially mountedto the central shaft of the rotating table and is secured under therotating disc 4. The roller 21 is pressed to the cam disc 22 by atorsion spring 23 placed around the shaft 16. When the shaft I isrotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. I, the rotating disc 4 andthe dial plates 8 and 11 are rotated. Thus, the lever 19 and the roller21 are turned along, the roller 21 following the periphery of the camdisc 22. In FIG. 1, when the cam roller 21 passes the stretch a-b of thecam disc, the position of the swing levers I9 and the grip arms 15 onthe shafts 16 is thus' that the free ends of the grip arms 15 areresting on the bottles 14. In this position, the bottles are keptsecured and cannot rotate when caps are screwed on the bottles. Passingthe stretch 11-0 of the cam disc 22, the leversv 19 are forced to swingcounterclockwise, so that the grip arms 15 also swing counterclockwise,and the ends of the arms become released from the bottles, liberatingthe bottles. In this position, the bottles may be removed from thebottle table. The rotating bottle table shown in FIG. I is suitable forbottle closing machines, in which, during turning of the cap, a torsionmoment is exerted to the bottles by the screw clamps in a clockwisedirection. Movement of the bottles in that direction is avoided by thegrip arms 15 when mounted as shown in FIG. 1.

The free ends of the grip arms 15 are preferably provided with rubberblocks 24 which are mounted in such a position with respect to the shaft16 that, due to friction of the blocks 24 and the bottles, the grip ofthe arms 15 is further increased.

The increase of the gripping force may be derived from FIG. 4, whichindicates the forces appearing when a bottle 14 is gripped by a grippingmeans 15 and a moment is exerted on the bottle caused by the capsulationaction. That moment causes a force R acting on'the bottle, composed of anormal force N and a friction force F. The direction of the force R isthrough the point 0 of the shaft 18. When the moment exerted on thebottle increases, the force F increases proportionally, which means thatN increases, since the direction of the resultant force R should gothrough 0. In other words, the force exerted by the gripping'means 15 onthe bottle 14 increases proportionally. This is true aslong as thefriction angle 4) is smaller than the maximum friction angle Thus, theforce exerted on the gripping means 15 by the spring 23, may be small,

and needs only to be sufficient to bring the gripping means 15 from theopen position to the bottle. It is an advantage, therefore, that onlyvery small forces are exerted on the bottle when it is opened or closed,so, that bottles, which are very fragile or can collapse very easi-' ly,may be capsulated or opened in a proper manner.

The bottles may, in a way known per se, be supplied continuously to thebottle closing machine according to FIG. 1 by means of a rotating bottletable 25, and may be taken away continuously by means of a rotatingbottle table 26.

In bottle opening machines, in which, during the action of openingclamps, a torsion moment is exerted in a reverse direction with respectto the moment exerted when bottles are closed with caps, the grip arms15 may be placed in a reversed position on the shafts 16 with respect tothe position shown in FIG. 1. Such a use is shown in FIG. 3, in whichthe rotating bottle plate is rotatable in a counter-clockwise directionas shown in FIG. 3 by an arrow, and the grip arms are placed in a 180reversed position on the shafts 16 with respect to the position shown inFIG. 1. Such a use is shown in FIG. 3, in which the rotating bottleplate is rotatable in a counter-clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 3by an arrow, and the grip arms 15 are placed in a 180 reversed positionon the shafts 16, with respect to the position shown in FIG. 1.

Although the invention is illustrated by the embodiment shown in thedrawings, it is obvious that the invention is not restricted to thedrawings, and that modifications and variations are within the scope ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for gripping bottles comprising a central shaft, holdingmeans secured to said central shaft, a vertical shaft connected to saidholding means and a plurality of bottle dial plates connected to saidholding means, said plurality of bottle dial plates havingcircumferences which define recesses for gripping bottles, a pluralityof gripping means connected to said vertical shaft, each of saidgripping means being releasably mounted to said vertical shaft andpositioned near one of said recesses so that the gripping means extendsaround said recess from a place at some distance beyond thecircumference of the recess at the inner edge of said dial plate to aplace beyond the dial plate, and placed in such a way that the point ofrotation of said vertical shaft lies within an imaginary conical surfaceformed by the maximum friction angle at the contact point of the bottleand the free end of said gripping means, the lower end of said verticalshaft is provided with a swing lever mounted thereto in a mannerpreventing rotation, said swing lever extending towards said centralshaft with the end extending towards said central shaft being providedwith a rotatable cam roller mounted thereto, said cam roller following afixed cam disc mounted coaxially with said central shaft so that thegripping means is mounted and guided in such a way that an arrivingbottle may pass freely into each recess of said dial plate allowing thegripping means to be swung by action of the cam disc into a position inwhich the bottle in the recess is gripped by said gripping means.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the gripping means has one endreleasably mounted to the vertical shaft with the free end being swungby the action of the cam disc into a position in which it grips thebottle in the recess.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the arcuated gripping meansare mountable in a 180 reversed position so that the device is usable inbottle closing machines and in bottle opening machines.

4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the inner sides ofthe saidarcuated gripping means are provided with a block of a resilientmaterial having a high friction coefficient near the free end.

5. A device for gripping bottles comprising a central shaft, holdingmeans secured to said central shaft, a vertical shaft connected to saidholding means and a plurality of bottle dial plates connected to saidholding means, said plurality of bottle dial plates havingcircumferences which define recesses for gripping bottles, aplurality ofarcuated gripping means connected to said vertical shaft, each of saidarcuated gripr;l ntg means being releasably mounted to said vertical s at rotatably and positioned near a set of related recesses positionedabove each other in such a way that the gripping means extends aroundsaid recesses from a place at some distance beyond the circumference ofthe recess at the inner edge of one of the dial plates to a place beyondsaid one dial plate, the lower end of said vertical shaft being providedwith a swing lever mounted thereto in a manner preventing rotation, saidlever extending toward a central shaft with the end of the leverextending towards the central shaft being provided with a rotatable camroller mounted thereto, said cam roller following a fixed cam discmounted coaxially with the central shaft so that the action of the camand cam follower allow the arcuated gripping means to be mounted andguided in such a way that an arriving bottle may pass freely into a setof related recesses positioned above each other in the respective dialplates so that the arcuate gripping means may be swung into the positionin which the bottle in the recesses is gripped by said gripping means 6.A device according to claim 5, wherein the gripping means has one endreleasably mounted to the vertical shaft with the free end being swungby the action of the cam disc into a position in which it grips thebottle in the recess.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the gripping means isprovided between two dial plates, the higher dial plate being providedwith recesses corresponding to those of the lower dial plate, but havingsmaller sizes for centering the bottles to be c'apsulated, and eachgripping means extends beyond the dial plates in such a way that eachbottle may be held between the free end of the said gripping means andthe inner edges of the two corresponding dial plates.

8. A device for gripping bottles as claimed in claim 5, wherein saidholding means comprises a mounting element secured to said central shaftand a plurality of discs secured to said mounting element.

1. A device for gripping bottles comprising a central shaft, holdingmeans secured to said central shaft, a vertical shaft connected to saidholding means and a plurality of bottle dial plates connected to saidholding means, said plurality of bottle dial plates havingcircumferences which define recesses for gripping bottles, a pluralityof gripping means connected to said vertical shaft, each of saidgripping means being releasably mounted to said vertical shaft andpositioned near one of said recesses so that the gripping means extendsaround said recess from a place at some distance beyond thecircumference of the recess at the inner edge of said dial plate to aplace beyond the dial plate, and placed in such a way that the point ofrotation of said vertical shaft lies within an imaginary conical surfaceformed by the maximum friction angle at the contact point of the bottleand the free end of said gripping means, the lower end of said verticalshaft is provided with a swing lever mounted thereto in a mannerpreventing rotation, said swing lever extending towards said centralshaft with the end extending towards said central shaft being providedwith a rotatable cam roller mounted thereto, said cam roller following afixed cam disc mounted coaxially with said central shaft so that thegripping means is mounted and guided in such a way that an arrivingbottle may pass freely into each recess of said dial plate allowing thegripping means to be swung by action of the cam disc into a position inwhich the bottle in the recess is gripped by said gripping means.
 2. Adevice according to claim 1, wherein the gripping means has one endreleasably mounted to the vertical shaft with the free end being swungby the action of the cam disc into a position in which it grips thebottle in the recess.
 3. A device according to claim 1, wherein thearcuated gripping means are mountable in a 180* reversed position sothat the device is usable in bottle closing machines and in bottleopening machines.
 4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the innersides of the said arcuated gripping means are provided with a block of aresilient material having a high friction coefficient near the free end.5. A device for gripping bottles comprising a central shaft, holdingmeans secured to said central shaft, a vertical shaft connected to saidholding means and a plurality of bottle dial plates connected to saidholding means, said plurality of bottle dial plates havingcircumferences which define recesses for gripping bottles, a pluralityof arcuated gripping means connected to said vertical shaft, each ofsaid arcuated gripping means being releasably mounted to said verticalshaft rotatably and positioned near a set of related recesses positionedabove each other in such a way that the gripping means extends aroundsaid recesses from a place at some distance beyond the circumference ofthe recess at the inner edge of one of the dial plates to a place beyondsaid one dial plate, the lower end of said vertical shaft being providedwith a swing lever mounted thereto in a manner preventing rotation, saidlever extending toward a central shaft with the end of the leverextending towards the central shaft being provided with a rotatable camroller mounted thereto, said cam roller following a fixed cam discmounted coaxially with the central shaft so that the action of the camand cam follower allow the arcuated gripping means to be mounted andguided in such a way that an arriving bottle may pass freely into a setof related recesses positioned above each other in the respective dialplates so that the arcuate grippiNg means may be swung into the positionin which the bottle in the recesses is gripped by said gripping means 6.A device according to claim 5, wherein the gripping means has one endreleasably mounted to the vertical shaft with the free end being swungby the action of the cam disc into a position in which it grips thebottle in the recess.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein thegripping means is provided between two dial plates, the higher dialplate being provided with recesses corresponding to those of the lowerdial plate, but having smaller sizes for centering the bottles to becapsulated, and each gripping means extends beyond the dial plates insuch a way that each bottle may be held between the free end of the saidgripping means and the inner edges of the two corresponding dial plates.8. A device for gripping bottles as claimed in claim 5, wherein saidholding means comprises a mounting element secured to said central shaftand a plurality of discs secured to said mounting element.